


Wrap It Up and Put A Bow on It

by EllenMarieP



Series: Thomas Barrow Christmas Prompts [8]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Christmas, Gen, The children love Thomas, Thomas Barrow is Good With Children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28079775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllenMarieP/pseuds/EllenMarieP
Summary: Part 8 of the Christmas prompt challenge.Wrapping- Character A can't wrap a present to save their life, asks character B for help.Sybbie needs help. Thomas can't say no.
Series: Thomas Barrow Christmas Prompts [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030419
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39
Collections: A Very Thomas Barrow Christmas 2020





	Wrap It Up and Put A Bow on It

**Wrap It Up and Put A Bow on It**

“Oh no!”

The small cry stopped Thomas in his tracks as he wandered the gallery, he did like to keep an eye on things. It was a quiet day with the family being out Christmas shopping and so hearing sounds of distress from Miss Sybbie’s room automatically pulled him in that direction, he couldn’t stand it when the children were upset.

Entering the room, he found a quietly crying Miss Sybbie surrounded by a mass of wrapping paper, ribbon and twine. The poor girl had several Christmas themed stickers in her hair to go with the several others stuck on the wall. She looked up as he approached her, her blue eyes that reminded him so much of her mother filled with tears which just about melted his heart on the spot.

As Thomas knelt down beside her she instantly climbed into his lap and wrapped her still little arms around his neck, breaking down into heat broken sobs. He instinctively wrapped his own arms around her as tightly as he could and simply held her as she cried her hurt away, wishing he could do more.

“What on earth’s the matter Miss Sybbie? Why are you all by yourself?”

Sybbie needed a moment to take a few deep breaths before she could answer. He words were slightly muffled and interrupted by tiny hiccups as she spoke quietly into his livery, but he could always understand her no matter what.

“Nanny _hic_ took Caroline and Johnny for a walk _hic_ they wouldn’t stop crying _hic_ and George has his lessons with Miss Elliot. I tried to wrap a _hic_ Christmas present for daddy but it’s not working!”

Thomas sighed; he’d never liked that Sybbie missed out on certain lessons simply because she was a girl. She was just as smart and capable as Master George and she was old enough now to start feeling left out. She was also plenty old enough to go for walks with the toddlers, but nanny seemed to be of the opinion that a child out of a pram was too much of a handful.

While Thomas knew it wasn’t his place to do anything about walks or lessons, he could certainly help with a present.

“Why don’t I help you wrap your present?”

It was as if he’d flipped a switch. Sybbie’s face appeared from where she’d buried it in his shoulder, a happy light shining through the remaining tears that matched her delighted smile.

“Really!?”

“Of course, we can wrap it up and put a bow on it. Now, what exactly are we wrapping?”

Thomas then proceeded to teach Sybbie how to wrap the perfect present before helping her gently remove the wayward stickers from her hair and tidy away all evidence of the failed wrapping attempts.

Unbeknownst to him, two hours had passed, and he was late for afternoon tea which he quickly realised after he finally stood up and glanced at the door only to get quite the fright at finding Lady Grantham looking right back at him, both with an odd smile on her face.

“Your ladyship…I err…I’m late aren’t I? I’m so sorry.”

Sybbie also saw her at this point raced over, chattering away ten to the dozen with a proud, toothy smile on her face.

“Granny! Barrow taught me how to wrap presents so they look lovely and we put a bow on top and then we had to get stickers out of my hair, I put them there by accident and they got awful tangled but now everything’s all tidy!”

Lady Grantham’s odd smile turned to a grin as she looked down at her granddaughter. She knew the child felt left out on the days her cousin had extra lessons and was simply delighted to see her so happy.

“My goodness! Well, no wonder you both lost track of time being so busy. Now nanny’s waiting for you in the nursery with the others so why don’t you say a big thank you to Barrow and go tell them all about it?”

Thomas couldn’t help blushing a little as Sybbie ran back to him and gave him a big hug and a quiet ‘thank you’ before waving and racing off to the nursery where there was sure to be lukewarm tea and shortbread biscuits.

Of course, this then left Thomas alone with the countess and he struggled to form an excuse that didn’t sound like he was intentionally shirking his duties as he was so used to people assuming.

“I’m sorry milady. Miss Sybbie was struggling with Mr Branson’s present and she was upset so I offered assistance and I’m afraid I lost track of time. It won’t happen again.”

He was surprised to see her looking at him with a warm smile on her face and couldn’t help the confused expression from appearing on his face which if anything only made her smile even warmer.

“Barrow I should probably confess I’ve been here for a while. Andrew came up to serve the tea and no one knew where you were but then nanny hadn’t seen Sybbie and we hoped we’d figured it out. You both seemed so happy when I arrived, I couldn’t bear to interrupt. Don’t ever feel the need to apologise for helping the children, especially if they’ve been left alone. It’s obvious how much they adore you and you them and I’m glad you came back when Carson retired, they missed you terribly. I hope I’m not crossing any lines but if the world were a fairer place, you’d be a wonderful father.”

Thomas was embarrassed to feel the sting of tears in his eyes and he quickly looked down to the carpet and he fought to regain his composure. A couple of deep breaths and a lot of blinking later he looked back up at her with a sad smile.

“Thank you milady.”

Lady Grantham seemed to realise that there was nothing more to be said and she gave him a gentle nod before walking away, probably returning to the afternoon tea. Thomas took a moment while he could to mourn what would never be before he started thinking back on his time with Sybbie. He smiled to himself as he realised that, while none of them were his, he loved all the children in this house and they him and perhaps, just perhaps, that was the way it was meant to be.


End file.
